When initially developing an electronic device, one or more engineers may determine the various circuits and circuit components needed to carry out the desired functions and features of an electronic device. These circuits are often described with one or more schematic diagrams which identify circuit components (e.g., integrated circuits (ICs), resistors, capacitors, etc.) and the necessary electrical connections between those components. Once the underlying circuit is developed, the schematic (or other circuit description) is often the starting point for developing other information needed to manufacture the device. For example, many electronic devices include one or more printed circuit boards (PCBs) on which the necessary circuits for an electronic device are physically contained. In order to build a PCB, additional information regarding placement of circuit components on the board and routing of connections between those components is needed.
Designing PCBs, e.g., determining component placement and interconnection, is a complex and time-consuming process. More complex circuit designs may involve hundreds of components and thousands of inter-pin connections. Component placement and connection routing are interrelated, and it is sometimes necessary to revise component arrangement to achieve a particular set of connections. Aside from the often formidable task of simply finding a geometric arrangement of components that will permit all desired connections, numerous design rules are typically imposed. As one example, conductive traces may require a minimum separation. As another example, it is often desirable to minimize the number of vias connecting different PCB layers. These rules can further complicate the PCB design process.
Because of the complexity involved in PCB design, and because the widely differing needs (and/or preferences) of different companies, PCB design often involves a collection of application programs. One application program may provide basic layout and/or routing functions. Another program, perhaps available as an add-on to the basic application, may provide design capability for embedded circuit components (passive or active). Still another program may be needed for design of specialized circuits (e.g., circuits having RF functionality). Moreover, various other software applications may also be used during the PCB design process. As but one example, certain arrangements of components and connecting paths can introduce unwanted electrical effects; it is thus often desirable to simulate the operation of a PCB and/or perform other analysis during the PCB design process.
In many cases, a single PCB designer may wish to simultaneously use multiple application programs during a single design session. In other words, a designer may have several application programs concurrently running on a computer workstation. As the designer performs tasks requiring different applications, the designer switches between the applications as needed. Using current methods, however, this is often a tedious and error-prone endeavor. In many cases, each application has its own unique format for storing data, which format is not compatible with formats used by other applications. In the past, communications between PCB design applications has often required writing a separate interface program to convert the ASCII output of one application into a form of input recognized by another application. This has led to the creation of hundreds of ASCII interfaces to permit communication between different applications. Each time one of those applications is modified, interface programs for that application may also require modification.
Moreover, existing methods do not permit automatic communication of data between PCB design applications. When switching from one application to another, a designer must manually invoke a separate program to take the data from one application and convert it to a form recognized by a second application. The designer must then import that converted data to the second application. This importation step may require the user to manually invoke additional commands. In addition to consuming valuable designer time and generally being an inconvenience, all of this can cause errors. If, for example, a designer switches directly from a first application to a second without converting the most recent data from the first application and transferring the converted first application data to the second application, the designer may unwittingly have different versions of the PCB design within each application.